Article Highlights:

• IMSA driver Jordan Taylor suffers a nasty crash
• All seven drivers involved were unhurt in the incident
• Taylor’s Corvette was doing 108 mph at the time of impact

This is exactly what Formula 1 drivers like Ayrton Senna died for. Racing used to be an incredibly dangerous sport. Now, crashes like the one below, involving a Chevrolet C8 race car and a Mclaren, are as safe as they’ve ever been. It used to be that drivers died nearly every race weekend (especially in F1), and that, thankfully, is a thing of the past. We’re just happy Jordan Taylor, driver of the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, and the driver of the McLaren were able to walk away from such a terrible collision.

Turns out, crashing a Corvette race car isn’t fun

The incident took place during a very tumultuous time at the IMSA Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. A race restart is usually pretty hectic during a mixed-class event like this, with faster and slower cars all fighting for position as they cross the starting line. In this case, we were about 10 hours into the event. After 10 straight hours of racing, fatigue is high, likely helping to contribute to the incident.

As Taylor headed down the back straight, GT cars began to bunch up further down the track. Think of it like a traffic jam at 120 mph. Jordan’s foot was flat to the floor as he headed into the traffic jam. As cars began to rapidly decelerate and swerve, a near-stationary McLaren race car emerged from the pack in front of Jordan. In the onboard footage above, you can see Taylor begin to lift off the Chevrolet Corvette’s throttle and brake, but by then it’s already too late.

Chevrolet Corvette race cars aren’t cheap

In the milliseconds before the impact with the McLaren 720s race car, Jordan is still doing 174 kph, or about 108 mph. From there, well, things don’t improve. Thankfully, Taylor’s hands are clear of the Chevrolet Corvette’s wheel as it flails about. It isn’t uncommon for a driver to seriously hurt their hands under these circumstances. At the moment of impact, he’s still doing 98 mph. Several other cars, like a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo, are also caught up in the carnage.

While there’s no official pricing for the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the video, we estimate the car to be around $150,000+. Not cheap, but a lot of that budget goes into safety, and certainly saves Taylor and the other driver’s lives. Taylor complained of some minor soreness, but none of the seven drivers were seriously harmed in the incident.

Racing continues to be come safer

A few short years ago, a crash like this could have killed or crippled any number of the drivers involved, including Taylor. Thankfully, stringent safety requirements for cars like the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R mean that this was nothing more than a very scary way to spend an afternoon. Teams and racing legislators continue to improve safety in cars, and that directly benefits the public as tech trickles down to road cars like the Corvette Z06. With any luck, we’ll all be able to walk away from just about any accident soon.